CAMEO Citizen Science Program

Project Leader: Dr. Tina Miller-Way

Project Details

Overview

The Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s citizen science program, CAMEO, offered a chance to participate in scientific research. CAMEO stands for Citizen’s Archive for Mobile Bay Estuarine Organisms. Data collected through the program was aimed to answer questions about and understand how Mobile Bay is changing over time.

CAMEO’s citizen scientists collected data on a number of common and rare fish and invertebrate species in Mobile Bay by participating in DISL’s education program (Discovery Hall) vessel-based classes for school students. These classes use DISL’s research vessel, the Alabama Discovery, and include a trawling activity that allows students to see and learn about Mobile Bay’s estuarine animals. Citizen scientists will accompany these trips, record abundance data for a specific list of species and enter these data into an online data system.

Funding

Funding for the project was provided by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, State Lands Division, Coast Section, in part, by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Coastal Management, NOAA Award #19NOS4190137.